The present invention generally relates to tools for making precise angled cuts in molding sections, and more particularly it relates to an improved mitering machine design that will permit precision mitering operations to take place in very confined spaces, such as in the back of small retail shops where there is a need to cut molding sections for picture frames or the like.
Miter joints are required in numerous applications. One application is in the fabrication of picture or poster frames where four molding sections are cut to length with matching mitered ends. Different mitering machines have been devised for making angled cuts quickly and accurately. One such machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,934 issued to Leslie W. Wall, wherein the molding section is supported on a horizontal work table and cut by a pair of motor driven rotary saw blades positioned in vertical relation to the table at opposed 45.degree. cutting angles. In another prior art mitering machine design a V-shaped cutter block carrying cutting knives is caused to strike in a cutting action downwardly through a cutting throat in the horizontal work table so as to cut V-shaped notches in the molding section. The cutter block can be advanced incrementally to make increasingly larger V-shaped cuts until the molding section is severed. The two resulting severed pieces have precise matching and oppositely angled mitered ends, which are generally produced without chipping or splinting of the wood.
The disadvantage of the above-described conventional machines is that they require considerable floor area to operate due in part to the lateral extension of the horizontal work table on which the molding sections are placed for cutting. This makes such machines difficult if not impossible to operate in confined spaces, and thus makes their speed and accuracy or generally unavailable on-site in small retail shops that sell frames or pre-framed pictures or posters.
The present invention is directed to an improved mitering machine design that can be operated in confined spaces and that at the same time can provide the same accuracy and production speed advantages of the foregoing conventional designs.